Ms. Ferneding is a graduate of the Farmer School of Business at Miami University and joins Kroger from ALDI, where she has served in a variety of leadership roles for the last 11 years, including an international assignment in Australia. Upon her return to the U.S., Ms. Ferneding was promoted to marketing director and then earlier this year, she was promoted to director of corporate buying.

"Liz's extensive grocery retail experience in procurement, marketing, advertising, management and operations will be an asset to our Ruler associates, customers and community," said Rodney McMullen, Kroger's chairman and CEO. "We have a lot of respect for the Ruler format and the customer it serves. Liz's talent and insights will help us sharpen our value-centric, small-format store."

The Ruler division is headquartered in Seymour, Indiana, with 48 stores operating in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee. Ruler stores, which average 19,000 square feet, offer low prices and an expansive selection of Our Brands foods. Ruler will open two new stores later this year.

"I'm excited to join the Ruler team to help further develop the format, grow the brand and enhance customer engagement," said Ms. Ferneding. "I have admired the Kroger Co. both as a consumer and a competitor and have looked to the company throughout my tenure in the industry as a benchmark in grocery retail."

At The Kroger Co., we are dedicated to our purpose: to Feed the Human SpiritSM. We are 443,000 associates who serve eight and a half million customers every day in 2,792 retail food stores under a variety of local banner names in 35 states and the District of Columbia. Our Family of Companies operates an expanding ClickList offering – a personalized order online service – in addition to 2,255 pharmacies, 782 convenience stores, 311 fine jewelry stores, 220 retail health clinics, 1,453 supermarket fuel centers and 38 food production plants in the United States. Our Company has been recognized as one of America's most generous companies for its support of more than 100 Feeding America food bank partners, breast cancer research and awareness, the military and their families, and more than 145,000 community organizations including schools. As a leader in supplier diversity, we are a proud member of the Billion Dollar Roundtable.